Air-operated apparatus for removing dust accumulations from regenerative checkerwork



June 16, 1953 H. w. WELLS 2,

TUS FOR REMOVING DUS CCUMULATIONS AIR-OPERATED APPARA FROM REGENERATIVE CHECKERWO Filed June 21, 1949 Patented June 16, 1953 AIR-OPERATED APPARATUS FOR REMOV- ING DUST ACCUMULATIONS FROM RE- GENERATIVE CHECKERWORK Harold W. Wells, Youngstown, Ohio Application June 21, 1949, Serial No. 10c,4ss

This invention relates to the removal of fluedust accumulations from the brick of regenerative checkerwork and, in particular, to an improved apparatus for accomplishing this result.

Regenerative checkerwork is subject to a progressive lessening of its efficiency by reason of the deposit of flue dust on the bricks thereof. Numerous proposals have been made for removing such accumulations but none of them, so far as I am aware, has been wholly satisfactory. It is accordingly still the practice to remove dust accumulations by hand labor. This practice involves putting a crew of men on the checkerwork to manually pick and scrape dust off the bricks after which they blow away the loosened dust with an air jet. This is a very disagreeable task because of the dust stirred up by the air jets and the resulting adverse working conditions necessitate frequent relief of the crew. Considerable time and manpower are thus required. In addition, the efliciency of the method is low because of the limited depth which it is possible to penetrate with hand tools from the top of the checkerwork. It is therefore the object of my invention to provide apparatus for removing dust accumulations from checkerwork quickly, efliciently and with a minimum of hand labor.

I have invented a simple device for perform-- ing the essential task of removing dust accumulations from checkerwork quickly and thoroughly. In a preferred embodiment and practice, I provide an air chest adapted to be lowered successively into the numerous open spaces of the checkerwork, one after the other. An airsupply pipe extends upwardly from the chest permitting the apparatus to be manipulated from the top of the checkerwork. Nozzles communicating with the chest project radially in several directions therefrom. A turbine is suspended below the chest and receives air from it. A shaft extending downwardly from the turbine is provided with means effective to engage and positively dislodge accumulations of dust deposited on the bricks. Downwardly directed jets of air from said nozzles carry the dislodged dust to the bottom of the checkerwork from which it may readily be removed. When the brick adjacent one passage through the checkerwork have been cleared of dust, the device is lifted out and lowered into an adjacent passage. The dust-dislodging means is preferably mounted on an arbor below the turbine shaft and connected thereto by a universal joint. This meansmay be a circular wire brush or a plurality of chain lengths.

I 3Claims. (oils-387) A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description and explanation which refer to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a partial vertical section through a mass of checkerwork showing the invention disposed therein in elevation;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the checkerwork showing the invention in plan and the air-supply pipe in section;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the device of my invention to enlarged scale;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section with parts omitted taken along the plane of line IV-IV of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a section taken normal to the axis of the arbor showing a modified form of dustdislodging means.

Referring in detail to the drawings and to Figures 3 and 4 in particular, a hollow cylindrical air chest II] is mounted on the lower end of an air-supply pipe or hose II of any suitable length which serves to support the entire apparatus about to be described. The device is manually lowered into one of the passages through the checkerwork l2 as shown in Figure 1, by means of pipe H manipulated by the user from the'top of the checkerwork. A plurality of nozzle tubes I3 communicating with the chest project radially in different directions therefrom. Each tube has downwardly opening ports H in the lower side and an outwardly opening port iii in the outer end.

A turbine 16 is suspended below the air chest [0 and receives air therefrom. Exhaust openings I! for the motive fluid are formed in the lower end of the turbine housing. The turbine has a rotor (not shown) from which a shaft [8 extends downwardly. An arbor or spindle I9 is mounted on the shaft by a universal joint 20. A circular wire brush 2! is secured on the arbor adjacent the lower end thereof between spaced clamping discs 22. The discs are tightened down on the brush by nuts 23 threaded on the arbor.

When the device is to be used, pipe I I is connected to a suitable source of air under pressure and the apparatus is lowered into one of the spaces in the checkerwork as previously mentioned and as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The brush 2! being driven at high speed by the turbine I6, effectively scrubs dust accumulations from the checker bricks by violent impact therewith. This action is aided by the fact that universal joint 20 permits oscillation of the arbor and brush in any-direction even though the pipe H and therefore the air chest l6 be held more or less rigidly in position by the user.

Ports H1 in tubes 13 discharge air jets downwardly which serve to blow the dislodged dust accumulations down through the passage to the bottom of the checkerwork where it collects in the gas fiues. Ports 15 in the tubes discharge radial jets which serve to dislodge any dust remaining on the bricks after they have been engaged by the brush. The air discharged from the exhaust ports I! of the turbine 1'5 aids the action of the jets from ports 14 of the tubes.

It will thus be apparent that the device of my invention operates mechanically to dislodge dust accumulations from the bricks adjacent the passage in the checkerwork into which it is inserted and simultaneously discharges an air blast downwardly through the passage to carry the dust dislodged away from the region being worked on. By slowly lowering the device through the passage and then raising it, a thorough de-dusting' may be accomplished. When one passage has been cleaned, the device is inserted in the adjoining passages and so on until the entire mass of the checkerwork has been treated. The pipe II is preferably rotated slowly during the descent and ascent of the apparatus through the passage to insure uniform treatment of the bricks on all sides of the passage.

Figure 5 illustrates a modified form of impact means. Lengths 24 of chain are substituted for brush 2! and are'secured between discs 22 so that their free ends fly out under centrifugal force on rotation of the arbor. The chains thus subject the dust accumulations on the bricks to a violent beating which dislodges the dust almost immediately on contact therewith.

The invention has numerous advantages over the prior practice. It is quick and efficient in operation reducing the necessary outage of the furnace associated with the checkerwork, and requires but little hand labor. It improves working conditions by carrying the removed dust away from the working area. The apparatus is simple and inexpensive. It is also light in weight so as to permit easy manipulation. Finally, the

invention permits cleaning the entire depth of the checkerwork.

I claim: 1. Apparatus for removing dust accumulations from the bricks of regenerative checkerwork, comprising an air chest adapted to be lowered into the open spaces of the checkerwork, an air-supply pipe extending upwardly from the chest, radial nozzle tubes fixed to the chest, spaced circumferentially about the vertical axis thereof and communicating therewith, each tube having an outlet port positioned to discharge a jet of air against the checkerwork, a turbine suspended below said chest and communicating therewith so as to be supplied with air thereby, a shaft extending downwardly from said turbine, an arbor below said shaft, a universal joint connecting the arbor to the shaft, and means mounted on said arbor effective to dislodge accumulations of dust deposited on the bricks of the checkerwork.

2. Apparatus for removing dust accumulations from the bricks of regenerative checkerwork, comprising an air chest adapted to be lowered into the open spaces of the checkerwork, an airsupply pipe extending upwardly from the chest, radial nozzle tubes fixed to the chest, spaced circumferentially about the vertical axis thereof and communicating therewith, each tube having an outlet port positioned to discharge a jet of air against the checkerwork, a turbine suspended below said chest and communicating therewith so as to be supplied with air thereby, a shaft extending downwardly from said turbine, and means on the shaft efiective to dislodge accumulations of dust deposited on the bricks of the checkerwork.

3. The apparatus defined by claim 2 characterized by said discharge ports being located in the outer ends of said tubes.

HAROLD W. WELLS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 599,840 Holden Mar. 1, 1898 754,955 Lemke Mar. 15, 1904 874,258 Stormer Dec. 17, 1907 1,383,291 Divirglio July 5, 1921 1,580,294 Gawley Apr. 13, 1926 2,465,921 Peters Mar. 29, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 41,358 Norway May 11, 1925 618,556 Great Britain Oct. 29, 1947 

